The nature of the cumulative effect of three repeated 5 minute occlusions of the common carotid artery in gerbil, carried out during the period of post-ischemic hypoperfusion was studied by visualization of cerebral microcirculation with intravenously injected Evans Blue (EB) tracer. The animals were sacrificed shortly after EB injection and the distribution of the tracer in the capillaries and larger cerebral blood vessels was studied in frozen sections under the fluorescence microscope. Repetitive ischemia caused progressively increasing brain edema and progressive reduction of the number of perfused capillaries. Immediately, after each ischemic episode transient recruitment of capillaries occurred, thus excluding no-reflow as a main pathogenic factor of microcirculatory disturbances. The pattern of microcirculation 6 and 24 hours after the last occlusion revealed a redistribution of circulating blood, characterized by a reduction in the number of EB-filled capillaries and, at the same time, noticeable dilatation of the larger vascular channels. The redistribution of microcirculatory flow was shown to be associated with the normal cerebral blood flow levels at that time. Our studies suggest a closed interrelationship between post-ischemic microcirculatory hypoperfusion and the development of brain edema, the degree and extent of which progresses with the repetition of ischemic episodes when they are carried out during the periods of hypoperfusion.